I came from Aiur
by KeanuGrym
Summary: AVPStarCraft Xover. Vak'kthir and Son are on a hunting trip in the wilderness of thier homeland. During the trip they encounter a bewildered alien creature. Soon the hunt begins.
1. Chapter 1

I came from Aiur

by KeanuGrym

copyright disclaimer: We know what belongs to what. Nuff said.

Ch.1 New Prey

Vak'kthir stood under the sun. He stood under the sun and calmed the beating of his heart while attuning his senses to the world around him. He willed his mind to a standstill and allowed himself to become one with the land beneath his feet and the air above his head. In his minds eye he found his spirit become one with the horizon and felt a strange feeling in his heart that his kind doesn't often relish in. Some would call it strange, but he considered it sacred. Such insight to the world around him and within him only reaffirmed the creature that he was and at the same time calmed the hunter within, as if the thing he was truly hunting his entire life had been with him all along. But this state of mind he felt came with a acute awareness of all that was not right as well, and in the east he felt a strange almost supernatural disturbance that peaked his curiosity.

"Father, why does Centanu bother hunting us at all? He always gets his trophy and surely after claiming thousands of yautja souls both good and bad, he would eventually get bored. Who is then left to impress with such a collection of trophies?" asked his youngest son.

Vak'kthir turned to his unblooded child and considered him. He had no name yet, because he has not been blooded, but Vak'kthir always wondered what it should be. Knowing the nature of the child, it probably would be something along the lines of "Asker of the Strangest Questions." Not that it bothered him so much, but it did raise some eyebrows in social gatherings when ever his son spurted another abnormal question from his mandibles like, "If rocks cannot breed, then why are there so many of them?" or "If Paya is the greatest warrior of all, does that mean he can never know the glory of fighting an equal?" or the infamous "If females hate each other so much, then why are they still alive?" Vak'kthir chuckled at that last question.

"I do not know, my son. When you die you can ask Centanu when you meet him. Pray that will be a long time away from now."

The yautja child accepted his Father's response, but soon began to itch with another question. "Father, might I ask another question?"

Vak'kthir sighed and said, "If you must."

"Why have we turned from our intended path to the east? I had thought that we were going to the delta so you could teach me what to expect from underground prey."

Vak'kthir was pleased that his youngest son had enough sense to be aware of where they were going. He worried that the child's mind spent too much time in the clouds and not enough upon his surroundings. Such a mental state, could get him killed.

"I just had a feeling, thats all. Sometimes you never know what you might find off the beaten path."

With that his son was satisfied.

It was not until an hour or so later the elder yautja stopped and knelt down to the ground. What he had found was an interesting set of tracks that he could not identify and a strange electrical smell. It was very odd. Vak'kthir knew every creature in the region and knew all their tracks and markings, except for the tracks before him. He hearkened back to the strange feeling he sensed earlier and wondered if there was a connection. Perhaps Paya was leading him to something?

"What is it father?"

Vak'kthir looked into the horizon as if to ask the same thing. " I do not know. Never seen tracks like these. The creature is lighter than we are, but judging from the stride quite tall. The way it's toes are spread out suggest that it may be a fast runner of some sort. This is a new creature, however and I suggest you be on your best watch."

"Does that mean we are going to track it down?"

Vak'kthir clicked his mandibles and tilted his head in thought. "Yes, I believe we will track down this creature and find out what it is. However we are not going to hunt it down until we know what it is. The scientists on board the Ikche'tal might be interested in this.

As the trek continued, the strange electrical smell strengthened and more tracks were found. Along the way familiar species were encountered, though few were worth killing. One of those creatures was a yitikor which was a lumbering creature slow of speed, but also possessed a nasty whip like tounge that held a poisonous stinger at the end. Vak'kthir warned his son about the poisonous stinger, and showed that the best way to deal with the creature was to keep the appropriate distance and circle around to it's blind flank. He also explained that it was never a good idea to pounce on the creatures back, for it held a vast arsenal of retractable spines upon it's back.

"As you can see, this creature is slow and dim witted, but an extremely good aim. If I were a few centuries older, I might not have the reflexes to dodge it's tounge," Vak'kthir said as he whipped his spear across the creatures shooting tounge, allowing it to wrap around his weapon. He then extended his Ki'cti'pa and sliced off the creatures tounge. It moaned in agony, but soon was put to silence with a quick spear thrust to the heart. His son was enthralled.

After the kill was over, Vak'kthir took the tounge and stinger and gave it to his son saying, "Use the equipment I gave you and fashion this into a usable weapon, and by the gods do not prick yourself. If I have to carry you back home, as soon as you come out of paralysis I won't finish beating you until all the stupid comes gushing out of your mouth or ass, which ever comes first."

His son gulped inwardly and took the tounge and stinger. About twenty five minutes later he had shaped for himself and unusual choice of weapon, but not unheard of. The bow and arrow were not commonly used among the yautja, so it raised the elder's interest when his son chose to use the stinger as the tip of an arrow. The elder permitted him to use some of the sinew from the beast's corpse as the string for the bow.

"It's a unusual choice, not many use that kind of weapon. What made you decide to make it that way, when a knife would be more simple an instrument?"

His son turned to him and answered simple. "It thought that it should be used the way the yitikor used it. Only I want my aim to be better."

Vak'kthir was pleased with his son, and they soon continued their quest to find the mysterious creature. It was not long, however until another interruption came along in the form of a grt'akuk. It was dangerous only to small creatures and a full grown yautja had nothing to worry about from these things. However, a young yautja child could easily be swept off the ground by the leathery skinned grt'akuk's talons. Wary of this danger the elder warned his son about the grt'akuk soaring above them. The child however, was eager to use his new bow on the thing, so Vak'kthir agreed to hide behind some boulders and allow the grt'akuk to think that he left his son alone. Soon the creature began to circle around the youngling and feeling confident that the larger adult was no where around, it came swooping in, talons extended. Vak'kthir crossed his fingers that his child would hit the mark. It would be a terrible pain in his sore rear end to have to chase the grt'akuk all the way to it's nest just to retrieve the young one, at the cost of losing the trail of the strange creature that they were tracking.

"Hya!" the child yelled as he released the bowstring, propelling the poison tipped arrow into the neck of the Grt'akuk. With a hiss it twisted around in the air and swooped in an eccentric motion, finally coming succumbing to the poison and crashing down into the dirt. The youngling let out a shriek of glee and rushed to his kill. Vak'kthir came up behind him and clicked his mandibles in approval of his son's work. They took their time taking the beak and talons from the grt'akuk, and the youngling wrapped the objects in cloth and placed them in the small satchel at his side as a trophy.

As the sky soon began to turn dark the father considered setting up camp, as the temperatures drop from day to night. Nearly all the creatures on their world developed heat sensing eyes sight, so camouflage was dictated not by colors, but by matching one's temperature with the surroundings. In the swamps night was the prime time to hunt, since so many warm blooded creatures traveled at night, but in the desert the opposite was true, as most of the hotter creatures went underground and the colder ones took advantage of the lower temperatures. But on this night, as the temperature dropped the heat signature of an apparently dead creature became more prominent near the base of a large rock formation up on a sloping hill.

"Come, young one. I think we should have a look at that," Vak'kthir said as he began to approach the hill.

As they got closer it became clear that the creature was what was known as a hishkan'trat. The hishkan'trat was a very large biped creature that was stronger than a fully grown yatjua male. They would usually hunt while camouflaged by the heat of the day, but this one appeared to have been disturbed in it's sleep and was attacked. The hishkan'trat was the apex predator of this environment though, and was a worthy opponent for the yautja. Creatures like the yikitor could have killed the hishkan'trat, but the one they found was killed by obvious blunt force trauma to the head. No creature that Vak'kthir knew of could have done this to a hishkan'trat.

"What could have killed it? If it were another yautja, it's head would have been taken," remarked the youngling.

Vak'kthir agreed, but was still stumped. No true yautja warrior would kill the creature in the way it died, the head was far to valuable a trophy. Unless the creature took to smashing it's head repetitively into the ground for fun, he could not guess what had the power to do this. Surely not the lightweight oddity they have been tracking? However, Vak'kthir was open to the possibility and pondered whether or not they should continue their coarse.

"I do not know what it was that did this. It might be the creature we pursue, but -," the elder cut his response to his son as he noticed something out the corner of his eye. A flash of heat atop a not so distant, or high rocky mesa perhaps only 250 to 300 yards away. Vak'kthir mandibles clicked together. They might have found what they were looking for.

"Now, my son we are going to circle around that mesa and watch for a while. I think that whatever killed this beast may be there. Stick close to me and be prepared for anything. If we see a flash of heat, then we will go climb atop the mesa and see if we can take this creature."

"But father, I am not very good at climbing. What if I fall and alert it?"

"I'm not worried that you will fall, for if you do I promise you a beating worse than the one I threatened you with earlier. If you must you may cling upon my back when we ascend."

The son submitted to his father's will, and soon they set up their stake out which lasted less than an hour. Vak'kthir's intuition was correct and soon the familiar scent of electricity faintly came to him as a heat signature of a nearly yautja sized biped creature blazed in the coolness of the night. Inwardly Vak'kthir thought to himself that if it were a natural creature of the region it would never show it's body heat like that upon a mesa of all things for a whole world of heat sensing carnivorous creatures to behold. It had to be foreign he thought. How foreign though, he did not know.

"Come, my son. This will be interesting," said Vak'kthir, "and for the record, what we are doing is very dangerous. Under no circumstance should you ever track or approach unknown prey while alone. The most dangerous prey is the prey you virtually know nothing about. When hunting, you always should know what your hunting or else it may be more than you can handle. The greatest sight you will ever learn my son, is the ability to see the line between courage, and stupid."

The young one took in the words, but then asked, "Father, if what you say is true then isn't what we are doing stupid? I mean, to track a creature we know nothing about. We could be walking into an ambush we have no chance of winning, despite even your great skills."

Vak'kthir noted what his son said, but was somewhat irked that his son made even a shadow of a suggestion that his judgment was unwise. Most young yautja would never question their elder's or else face severe punishment, but on the other hand Vak'kthir knew his son had a point, and in truth he was not so sure that what he was doing was the wisest thing to do. Yet his spirit was telling him different.

"My mind is telling me the same, but my heart and my instincts tell me different. Let it be another lesson to you son that in making risky decisions you cannot always trust only in your mind or your heart or even your instincts, but in all three of these things. There are times though when opportunity will not allow all three to come in agreement with each other and in the heat of battle decisions must be made quickly. We will just have to do with a two thirds majority vote for now. What do your three judges say?"

The youngling looked up to his father and said, "The same as yours."

"Then let us proceed."


	2. Chapter 2

I came from Aiur

by KeanuGrym

Disclaimer: same as last chapter

Ch.2 In the

Healing Halls.

It was a normal day in the Halls of Medicine where Okunth'chay taught the healing ways to young warriors and other females who were willing to learn her craft to any great extent. Few were, since the yautja were more interested in combat and the hunt than learning how do undo the kind of damage they yearn to do. Not that Okunth'chay objected to any of that since it was the yautja way of life, but it did bother her that the craft of medicine and healing was so neglected by the moronic young males. It was as if they never thought it was possible that they could catch a life threatening disease on a distant world, or that they would never lose a limb on one of their hunts. Normally when an injured male was brought into her halls she would shake her head and laugh at the unfortunate idiot who lost a fight to another male, or was foolish enough to catch the crotch itch from an unclean female, but on this day she held back her ridicule when she saw Vak'kthir grim faced burst into her halls with his bleeding son in his arms, followed by one of the Arbitrators.

"What is the meaning of this?" Okunth'chay demanded.

Vak'kthir's eyes locked with Okunth'chay's as if to say, "Now is not the time for stupid questions." Understanding the gravity of the situation she took the unblood to the 3rd degree healing chambers. While carrying the bleeding youngling down the corridor several young yautja were knocked down in the process that didn't move out of the way.

"Move you!" Okunth'chay said as she knocked an young injured male off the operating table, quickly replacing him with Vak'kthir's child. The other yautja moaned in pain but wasn't able to do anything about it. One of the female hall guards assisted him out of the chamber.

She looked over the youngling and shook her head wondering what could have done this to him other than another yautja. Turning back she saw the Arbitrator and the Elder still behind her. "Well," she asked, "what happened? Who did this? What did this?" The Elder began to speak but then was interrupted when Okunth'chay dismissed her own question saying, "Nevermind, just leave the room and let me operate. You can tell me all about it later. Well? Stop standing there and get gone!"

The two left and the door they passed through shut itself behind them. As they left the Arbitrator put his hand on Vak'kthir's shoulder and said to him "Don't you worry. The creature that harmed your son will soon be a trophy on the wall. It is still in the desert somewhere and both you and I can track it down together. If it remains in the secret caverns, then we can close the entrances off and kill it there."

Vak'kthir looked up at the Arbitrator and said, "I am not going anywhere until I know my son will live. He is the only child I have left apart from the one who's name I will not speak."

The Arbitrator nodded. "Of coarse I understand, Vak'kthir."

Nearly all the yautja of the region new that Vak'kthir though arguably the most experienced and renown local hunter, he did not fare so well when it came to love and lovemaking. Centanu has been especially cruel to the children he did manage to raise. The first child he attempted to have died before it was even born, along with his lover. The accident involved the sting of of a yitikor while his lover was out on a minor excursion. The second child lost was swept away by a grt'akuk when he strayed away from flock of children. The third child came many years later and that child along with his mother fell at the hands of hishkan'trat.

On their hunt that day he came across with his son the yitikor, the grt'akuk, and the hishkan'trat and all three of them died or were found dead. He took it as a good sign, a breaking of bad luck and the new prey they sought as a symbol of a new era of his life. What had gone wrong? Why did it happen this way? These were the same question he found himself asking on the day that the son previous to the one he had now died.

Ninety odd years ago Vak'kthir met a female yautja that he hated with all his heart. She was haughty without a cause and delighted in causing young yautja males to fight to the death over her. She attempted to play the same game with Vak'kthir but he spurned her advances which in turn earned him her wrath. As every yautja knows there is no wrath like a females scorn. All the males at the time pitied Vak'kthir, but he could care less about the female he enraged. For a few years Penok'di'le made numerous attempts to get back at Vak'kthir, but every attempt she made to humiliate him backfired, which added upon her rage even more. Eventually after one particular insult from Vak'kthir she finally had enough and attacked Vak'kthir in public. They soon found each other equally matched in strength and skill and would have killed each other in combat. However, the fight that was initiated turned out to be something of an aphrodisiac to them as it is for most yautja and soon devolved into what can only be explained as "sex on the road".

Thirteen months later Penok'di'le gave birth to twins, which is quite remarkable for yautja. Adelki and Kain'dak were the names given to the twins after they were blooded. Both exhibited extraordinary prowess in combat and hunting and held great promise. Vak'kthir was proud of both of them and hoped that one day they would both grow up to be legendary hunters. Yet there was a problem between the two. Kain'dak though he was the elder always felt that Vak'kthir favored Adelki far more than him. This jealousy that Kain'dak held for his brother disturbed Vak'kthir only a little and he did nothing about it, assuming it to be natural sibling rivalry which in truth was encouraged in their society. Never in a thousand years would he ever believe that one of his own would commit a horrible and dishonorable act that Kain'dak did. Vak'kthir shook his head from the memories. He did not want to think about what he had lost. Inside, however, he cursed Centanu.

It had been about four hours until Okunth'chay finally came out of the operating room. Vak'kthir was beside himself in anticipation, but he hid his fear. He was an elder and couldn't allow himself to show that expression even over the life of his son, no matter what. Okunth'chay looked over at him briefly and then turned down to her scratch board and began writing down some obscure notes. Vak'kthir was beginning to be impatient.

"You need not worry about your son, Vak'kthir. He shall live. However I don't know how long he shall stay unconscious. He might wake in a day or a week. He is a strong boy though and I am sure he will be up making poor decisions and bad judgment calls like all the others do."

Vak'kthir sighed inwardly. Perhaps Centanu decided to spare him this grief after all. It almost made him want to take back his previous curse.

Okunth'chay continued her discourse saying, "I found several burn marks on him that could only come from a heated plasma weapon along with some lacerations and many broken ribs. Tell me Vak'kthir what happened to this child?"

Vak'kthir closed his eyes and thought back to the event. The explosion, the tunnel, and the fall were all burned into his mind, but none of those memories burned into him more than seeing his son bleeding on the ground before that being with it's white hot eyes.

--

After falling into the hole Vak'kthir began to slow his decent to a safe speed until he came down to a branch in the descending tunnel works. He cursed under his breath and wondered which of the damn tunnels his son fell into, knowing it could have been either one. Fighting back the panic, he chose the left and hoped that the tunnels would converge. To his horror he heard another explosion echo through the other tunnel he left behind, but by then he had already slid into the complex below. After the fall he picked himself up and observed his surroundings seeing a multitude of tunnels challenging him on his quest to save his son. Moving forward in the darkness he blindly stumbled around until his ears detected the sounds of crashes and weapons.

The darkest regrets and most horrid of possibilities came to his mind. Not wanting to believe in the worst, Vak'kthir shoved his hated fears back into their pit and began to bulldoze on through the darkness. He nearly dismembered the n'bir that rounded the corner in a panic to get away from the commotion ahead in the tunnels. Seeing the five foot quadruped running in fear followed by three more of it's companions told Vak'kthir that he was on the right path. After two more passed, Vak'kthir turned a left and found himself faced with another nail biting decision between right and left.

Cursing the god that made the n'bir he chose to wait, learning from his last mistake. More sounds of crashes and a distinctly yautja yell came from the right tunnel. Traveling almost as fast as the echoes themselves, Vak'kthir went into the tunnel with Paya's speed while knocking down several frightened n'bir on his way. What would he find at the end of this tunnel he wondered. Another branching off point? A pit? A dead end? He prayed not, as he already has lost too much time. His son could be dead by now. Such a thought he could not handle, and with renewed vigor he finally came to the end.

Entering into the great chamber beneath the mesa, Vak'kthir saw his son at the center of the darkness. His son was not alone, however. To his great fear a towering figure, perhaps taller than himself, stood over his son. The child yautja simply stared into the entities eyes, the same eyes Vak'kthir also began to stare into. They were white hot in his heat vision, glowing even. Something about those eyes were hypnotic in a way and Vak'kthir noticed it. Perhaps the creature ensnared it's prey through hypnosis? The elder yautja was not so sure though. This creature didn't seem to have a mouth of any kind, nor claws to rip anything to shreds.

Vak'kthir slowly raised his spear and readied himself. He wasn't sure that striking so soon would save his son or not. By acting he may endanger his son more, but by hesitating he could lose him forever. Damed if he did, Damned if he didn't as the saying goes. Just before he could strike the alien the creatures head spun facing him. Vak'kthir was overcome by a strange hum that washed over him causing a forced paralysis. Not being able to move he tried to cry out, but then the world suddenly erupted in explosive violence.

--

"I had been hunting the creature myself for three days. When I finally got to the subterranean chamber I found Vak'kthir laying upon the ground. The creature had the child in his clutches and began to use it's witchcraft upon the boy, burning him with it's hands. I attacked the creature and we fought for only a moment, but part of the cave gave way and separated me from the creature. It eludes us only for the day."

Okunth'chay contemplated to her self for a moment after Arbitrator Rol'kinjak had told his side of the story. Raising her head she then asked, "So this creature? I assume that the witchcraft it uses is psionic in nature?"

Rol'kinjak shrugged saying, "Psionic, magic, makes no difference to me. It's alien and a coward."

"So do you believe that this alien could be a scout for a possible invasion," She asked.

Rol'kinjak nodded saying, "It is the very reason that I have been persusing it. I believe that it might have crash landed here, on accident however.

Okunth'chay's eyes came wide open. "Do the other Arbitrator's know about this?"

"Do not worry. I have already informed them and have been instructed to pursue it myself. A few ships have been sent to scan deep space and so far sensors have shown little.

"I see. So we only have to worry about one then? If there were an invasion of these things I'm afraid I would be even more overworked than I currently am," Okunth'chay said as she watched a amputated yautja lumber out from the hall towards the sawing room, "I would like a favor however."

The arbitrator clicked his mandibles curiously.

"I would like to take a look at the creature before you return it's body to the science devision for study. It's not often in these days that a new species, let alone a psionic one is discovered."

Vak'kthir nodded saying, "And you want first pickings on the new discovery so you can gloat over your competitors? Consider it done then, but I cannot promise you that the corpse will be in the best condition after we are done with it."

"Of coarse. I wouldn't expect anything different from you Vak'kthir. May Centanu close his eyes to you."

Vak'kthir nearly sighed saying, "May he close them to my son."


	3. Chapter 3

I came from Aiur

by Keenan Grimes

disclaimer: a given...

Ch.3 Hope they don't get bigger...

A/N: I suck so bad for leaving this on the net like an open wound. I got all the time in the world to finish this, yet I neglected it. I don't have as many distractions now a days and although I make no promises I'm gonna try to update this at least once a week. If I don't...you have permission to use voodoo on me. All critiques welcome.

He felt cold. He felt dead. Yet somehow he was still there alive in the rubble. The alien's plasma weapon caused a cave in. The disruption separated him from their threat, but now he was trapped. He tried to move his arm at first, but to no effect. His legs seemed to be fine as he kicked away rubble, and his other arm operated well enough despite the pain in his wrist from his previous encounter with the alien. Activating the psi blade on his left wrist he began to slice away at the rubble which pinned down his right arm until he was free.

Grateful that he avoided the need to amputate his arm with a sharp rock he observed his freed arm for damage. He found that he could bend and lift it where needed, but it was now impossible to form a fist without excruciating pain. He could manage though.

His suit created enough illumination to navigate with relative ease through the tunnels. If the need arose he could always create more illumination through psionic means or feel his way out using his mind. What his mind could not provide him, however, was a way to penetrate the solid wall of rock that blocked any further travel through the tunnels. He attempted at first to use his psionic gauntlets, but it became obvious that the stone was several meters thick, and it would be days before he could dig out. He thought for a moment that he could blast his way out by psionic means, but was hesitant to create another cave in. Left with no alternatives he sat down on the ground to think.

-

Judging by the look of his face, Vak'kthir could tell that Ek'iten was quite upset with him. Ek'iten knew Vak'kthir before Vak'kthir became an Honored One. Ek'iten himself was a young blood at the time and they both grew to respect each other more than any others within their clan. So well that they knew each other that Ek'iten was the only one within their clan that would or could speak thusly to the elder as he was at the moment.

"Damn! What the hell do you think I am? Their is a reason that I am vanguard, Vak'kthir! Why did you pursue an unknown alien with just your son, your only son I might add, without a backup plan in case something were to go wrong, which in fact it did!" Ek'iten said not so subtly as he argued with the clan elder in private.

"Watch your mandibles, Ek'iten! I have hunted thousands of species in my lifetime and the majority of those hunts were solo", Vak'kthir retorted.

Ek'iten then said, "That is true enough, and I do not dispute your skill, but there is a fine line between bravery and recklessness. To hunt alone with your only son is risky enough, but when there is an alien involved of which we know absolutely nothing about, you are only inviting disaster!"

Vak'kthir laughed and said, "What are you Ek'iten? My wife?"

"No, your Vanguard!" Ek'iten said, now furious.

"Calm your self Ek'iten," the elder said, "What I did was not the smartest thing to do, but it was an opportunity I couldn't skip. What would you have your elder do? It was an alien, possibly a scout for an invasion! If I had not acted it could have been gone forever, or at least until an armada came to our doorstep. I knew the risks that were involved."

The vanguard sighed and said, "What you say is true, but if you had died in those caves we would have learned nothing of the alien threat. We would also have to endure not knowing whether you were dead or alive for a very long time. Eventually we would presume you were dead and then have to deal with the shame of holding the ritualistic burial without the corpse of the clan's elder. Do you know what the other clans would say?"

Vak'kthir paused and his eyes stared a little into space. What would the other clans say? He knew that answer. The other clans would speak in disrespect about the recklessness of the elder of the Hunter's Eye Clan, and of how he got himself and his only son killed. As aged and seasoned as Vak'kthir was he figured that the thought would have crossed his mind. Yet, how could it have crossed his mind when it was so distracted at the time? Vak'kthir was still puzzled about that mental distraction that clouded his judgment. What was he to say to Ek'iten? That the god's compelled him? That the voice of destiny seduced him? No he could not say that, even to the one he trusted more than any other.

"It would be very selfish of me if I were to lose myself to the clan in such a way," Vak'kthir admitted disdainfully.

Ek'iten felt somewhat relieved. "Then you understand the reason of my discontent?"

Vak'kthir furrowed his brow. "Yes I do and," he said hesitantly, "Though I hate to say it, you are right...for a change."

"For a change!?" Ek'iten cried, "You stubborn old..."

Ek'iten cut his sentence off short as he heard the knock of arbitrator Rol'kinjak upon the entrance door. He turned his gaze back at the elder with a look that said, "We'll discuss this later." Vak'kthir cocked his eyebrow, quite pleased with himself and then turned his attention to the door.

"Enter," Vak'kthir yelled.

The doors opened and Rol'kinjak strode into the hall with all the dignity that accompanies his title. It was then that Vak'kthir noted that for the entire time that he knew the Arbitrator he had not seen his face without his mask until now. As the Arbitrator got closer the elder felt a little unsettled by what he saw.

Rol'kinjak's visage was a horrible mess. Half the skin on his face wasn't even his own. New skin had to be grafted onto the damaged area and that skin itself possessed a deep and penetrating scar that tore through his right eye, now replaced by a bionic one. The scar continued upward until it ran under the chrome plating atop his head, which appeared to be the only thing stopping the scar from splitting his skull wide open. To complement the horror further it would appear that along his way through life somebody thought it was appropriate to cut off his mandibles, which Vak'kthir reasoned was the source of Rol'kinjak's odd pronunciation of a few words.

Ek'iten approached the Arbitrator unphased by his appearance and said, "Ah, so this is the one who has been chasing this alien I have heard about?" Ek'iten saluted the Arbitrator. "You rescued our elder. For that we are honered by you. Though I must say, you seem a bit young to be an Arbitrator."

Rol'kinjak would have smirked if he could. "I am very ambitious for my age."

"Indeed," Ek'iten said with a curious look.

Rol'kinjak laughed and said, "You are wondering why it looks like I tried to have sex with a Kainde Amedha using my face? It's a funny story actually, but we have little time for that. I came to see if elder Vak'kthir has prepared for our hunt. Even as we speak more Arbitrators will soon be coming to this region to try to finish my job for me."

"Well now, we can't have that can we?" Vak'kthir said, "Preparations have been made. Ek'iten has already ordered the vanguard to meet us at your ship. Since you know the most about the creature the hunt is yours to lead."

"We are ready to depart on your word, Arbitrator Rol'kinjak," Ek'iten said.

Rol'kinjak saluted both the elder and captain of the vanguard. "Then let us be on our way."

-

The alien was at a loss only for a few moments when he was interrupted for a moment by a rumbling coming from one of the cave walls. Watching the wall and ready for any potential threat he saw it was one of the burrowing creatures coming through the other side.

He figured enough about the creatures to know that they weren't hostile and thought to himself that if he stuck by the creatures long enough he would find a way out of this trap. Having not many other options he sent out calming waves of psionic power and did his best to glean some information about the tunnels from the creatures mind. After he got all he could understand from the creature he set about his way through the dark tunnels hoping that by dipping his mind into other creatures like the previous he would be able to get out and complete his mission.

It felt as if an entire day passed and still there was no end to the tunnels in sight. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the structure of the tunnels and as time went by the alien became more and more frustrated. At one point during his ascent into an upward tunnel he lost his grip and nearly broke his neck as he fell nine feet downward. He managed to stop his fall before he hit rock bottom and began his ascent again.

"By Adun's ghost, what possessed me to follow that dream? I should be back with the fleet planning to take back Aiur!," the lone warrior said to himself, "No, I had to go to that Khalai facility and toy with that, umph!"

His dialog interrupted, he hung precariously onto the rock as another clump of earth fell on his head from above. Looking up he noticed it was one of the tunneling creatures digging it's way up. At first he warrior was disappointed that the upward tunnel path seemed to be a dead end, but just as he was about to get ready to go back dawn broke from above. Elated beyond belief he scrambled as fast as he can to the top, bowling the poor creature out of his way.

"Ha! Fresh air at last!" he said as he reoriented himself with the world around him. He noticed that he was no longer on the mesa but back on a plane between the mesa's and some hills to the south. Sitting down to think he began to focus on where he needed to go then.

"Well if I crashed way out there near the magma fields and came down past the dunes then I should be...or did I right from the delta? Which way does this cursed rock rotate anyway? Ow!" He mentally yelled.

Snapping back up on his feet he turned around and saw it was one of the tunneling creatures that bit him on one of his tendrils hanging from the back of his head, which were in fact nerve endings. The creature was the same one he bowled over from before which was also the reason for it's angry disposition.

"Why is every alien on this planet trying to kill me? Go away I did not mean to disturb you!" He said as he tried to shoo the creature away in vain. Again the creature tried to bite him, but the warrior backed away and was about to kick it until he realized something about the creature. It was in extreme pain.

The warrior thought to himself if the creature was sick or not and got his answer when the thing buckled over in pain. The feelings of agony rolled over the warrior's mind in such a way that he sensed something was ripping it's way through the creature. He eventually blocked it out from his mind and watched in horror as something began to punch through the N'bir's chest.

"By the Khala!" exclaimed the warrior who's face was just then covered in the blood of the creature as it's chest exploded. Out from the violence of the N'bir's death throws came a small worm like demon with polished steel like teeth. It wriggled out and gave the warrior an eyeless stare that promised a violent death to the world at large. Without hesitating any longer the warrior whipped out his psi blade and attempted to cut the parasite down before it could do anything unexpected and nasty. His aim was short from the mark and the worm's quick reflexes sent it fleeing down the hole the N'bir made not so long before it's demise.

The warrior stared down the hole for a little while and relaxed thinking that the creature wouldn't try to come up again, or at least for a little while anyways. However the incident left him unnerved. How many times had he seen a comrade die in a similar manner via the infestation of broodlings by a Queen of the zerg? Turning away from the hole the warrior chose to go an eastern path as he returned to his thoughts.

"Such a foul little thing. By far the worst creature I have met on this wretched world. If the zerg are on this planet they will have a field day infesting and assimilating all the violent creatures this world has to offer. I hope that worm doesn't grow into anything big."


	4. Chapter 4

I came from Auir

by KeanuGrym

copyright disclaimer: See last Chapter...silly goose.

Ch.4 The Stooges

There were white hot burning eyes in the dark boring into a young youth's very soul. Images flood into his mind. Images of blood accompanied by the shrieks of a thousand abominations. A swarm engulfs a world as a golden ship strikes into the heart of evil itself. A glorious battle. An ominous warning. Death was coming for all of them. Death was coming for them and they weren't ready. They would be struck down in the back and in dishonor. Extinction.

"Centanu! Centanu!", the poor youth shrieked. He flailed his arms about trying to fight someone who wasn't there. Okunth'chay scrambled to the young blood and tried to calm him. Apparently he fell into a fever while she was away and became severely delirious.

She took her hand and placed it upon his forehead and took the other to grasp his hand. His grip was like iron as his claws drew blood in her hand as they dug in. She ignored it and spoke to him saying, "Calm down little one there is nothing to worry about, your safe," turning around she yelled out to her assistants, "Fools! I leave for one moment and you let him catch a fever! Get me a vial of the bitter medicine!"

The assistant nervously replied, "But, all of the medicine tastes bitter!"

"And what? Have you been taste testing them all to be sure? Vial number 7 you moron, before I force feed it to you through your ass! See if it tastes bitter then!" She yelled as the assistant scrambled to the medicine cabinet.

The youngling was still squirming and screaming out, "Centanu, Centanu!" Okunth'chay looked back at him worried. Why had this fever set upon him so? It wasn't natural. Unless contact with the alien had something to do with it. The thing didn't carry a virus with it? The yautja have great immunities, but it still wasn't impossible for one damn virus to wipe out half the population. It's happened once on a distant clan world. Could it happen here though?

Okunth'chay's eyes widened when the youngling yelled out again, "Thousands and thousands! Father! They killed him, they killed him!"

The assistant finally arrived with the correct bottle, but by then the child's fever had already passed as they both watched his temperature return to it's previous state. The child wasn't screaming anymore and was resting again, though there were visible jerks in his mandibles and fingers. He was still dreaming.

The assistant asked Okunth'chay, "What was that all about?"

She turned and replied, "I...I really don't know. The fever disappeared though, and that isn't natural. Anaylize his blood. If you find anything unusual then issues the quarantine protocol. I need to contact someone in the mean time."

"Yes Okunth'chay."

---------------------

Out in the desert there was a trio of young bloods, whom if any rational traveler where to happen across wouldn't have the foggiest idea as to what they were doing. At first it appeared that two of them were watching another one perform a strange dance as he hopped around and held his arms out in odd angles. Very unnatural behavior for yautja. On closer inspection however the truth became a bit more evident. They were playing charades.

"Er..two claws?", one of them asked.

"No no I think he means talons," the other replied.

The one doing the charades pointed at the latter and nodded.

"See I thats the third one I called. You're really not good at this game are you?"

Turning to his partner the other remarked, "This isn't a game cjit for brains! Dead-noise saw something with a frilled head, no face, and two talons that was hotter than a grt'akuk. Do you know what that is, cause I don't!"

The other shrugged off his friends serious demeanor. "Patch, there are several creatures out there like that, and it ain't nothing that we can't handle anyways so why worry?"

Patch rolled his eyes at Splint. He really hated him sometimes. It was that exact attitude of his that got Splint his name. Of all the yautja in their tribe, Splint was by far the dumbest and the luckiest of them all. He has had so many fractures, dislocations, and concussions from all of his hair brained adventures and suicide hunts that it became rare to ever see him without a cast or splint on one of his limbs. Thus his name. In fact he was so bad about getting injured all the time Okunth'chay got sick of him and banned him from the healing halls on pain of death, which she considered to be the only "cure" for such a horrendous case of stupid.

Patch first met Splint at the healing halls before he was banned. At the time Patch was under the tutelage of Okunth'chay herself. At first she was elated to find a bright young male yautja that wanted to learn the art of medicine as much as the hunt, but as time went by their teacher pupil relationship became strained. Okunth'chay would claim it was incompetence, but Patch would say he left because she was bitch, which incidentally he called her in public. Big mistake. Banned from the healing hall Okunth'chay had to deal with Splint which led to his expulsion and the two eventually met each on the outside. They formed a tight partnership after that out of mutual benefit since Splint constantly needed a medic of some sort and Patch needed a body to practice and experiment medicine on. A perfect couple Dead-Noise would joke in sign.

Dead-noise was the third wheel of the group. Or at least it appeared that way. In truth he was the de facto leader by vote on account that he was the oldest, came from a higher class family, rescued Patch and Splint more times than they rescued him and he kept all his stuff cleaner than the others did. Despite the fact that he was the leader he didn't play the part so well. One, because he couldn't speak, two because Patch and Splint were idiots (especially Splint), and three because on some days he really didn't give a shit. Dead-Noise was content to just let Splint come up with plans for the next hunt and let Patch fix Splint up when everything went wrong while he stepped in from time to time to save both of their hides. Coincidentally, he too was banned from the healing halls since he has the reputation of being a jinx to everyone around him. Last time he was there he accidentally burned half of the place down. He was pulled to Patch and Splint because they were outcasts like him and strangely enough his bad luck doesn't effect them, though he was sure it was because their combined bad luck canceled out his own. As different as they all were there was one thing they agreed on. Okunth'chay was a bitch.

Watching Dead-Noise, they saw him make gestures toward his armor. Patch guessed that Dead-Noise meant that the creature was scaled, but Dead-Nose shook his head. Splint scratched his chin trying to understand what the other meant.

"You're saying it was something armored?"

Dead-Noise nodded.

"What? That would just be another yautja! We have a short sign for that, why go through all this trouble with charades?" Patch said a little irritated.

Dead-Noise shook his head, however. It wasn't another yautja he saw, he was sure of it.

"Okay so your saying there is an armored creature out there like a yautja, but isn't right?" Splint asked.

Patch and Splint looked at each other when Dead-Noise nodded again as if expecting the the other to know what it could have been. The idea that it could have been alien fluttered briefly through their minds, but it was too fantastic of an idea to even be possible to them. An alien coming to the yautja home world? No one was that dumb.

Patch thought a little bit and then said, "Well it shouldn't be too far away. One of us is going to have too go with Dead-Noise to the place he saw this armored creature of his. I doubt it was anything at all, but if were lucky we'll find out it was just a stray hishkan'trat and the sun was just playing with your eyes, Dead-Noise."

Dead-Noise crossed his arms in contempt. His eyes were just fine.

"One of us will have to stay with the ship," Patch said as he pointed with his thumb to the copper colored vehicle they affectionately dubbed "The Death-Trap." Patch turned to his comrade and said, "I vote for Splint."

"Now wait a minute!" Splint objected, "You always vote for me to do the boring stuff and I for one am tired of this pathetic excuse you call..er...what did you call it again, Patch?"

"Democracy."

"Yeah, Democracy. Why did we decide to settle things that way anyways?" Splint asked.

"Because we voted on it," Patch answered.

Splint nearly struck Patch then, but decided against it. "Look it's ridiculous! Yautja shouldn't decide what to do and what not to do by voting! I think that's what oomans do anyways. It's stupid and unbecoming!"

"Well how exactly do you want to settle this then?"

Splint thought for a moment and then said, "Stone, claw, and net. Stone beats claw, claw beats net, and net beats stone, you know the rules."

"I don't know, maybe we should have a vote first."

"No votes! Next time you say vote I swear I'll rip your head off!", Splint roared, "We play now!"

The three of them held their hands away and chanted the ancient ritual, or at least two of them in any case, and brought their hands together revealing their choice. In the first round Splint had stone, Dead-Noise had net and Patch also had net. In the second round the outcome was much the same except Splint had net and the others had claw. In the next round it happened again with Splint left with claw and the others having stone.

"This is impossible!" Splint roared, "You cheated!"

"Sorry Splint but that's how it goes. What's decided on the ancient game cannot be undone on pain of death, you know that," Patch said, "Me and Dead-Noise won't be gone for too long. Contact us if you see anything strange."

Splint bit down on his anger and accepted his his task, but was still perplexed on how he lost three times in a row. He sure it was the god's conspiring against him.

"Go out and catch your death for all I care! Who in their right mind would want this piece of cjit anyways?"

----

Behind the hill that the ship of the three yautja warriors was parked, a desperate alien thought only of acquiring a vessel of any kind to complete it's mission. It was not an easy feat distracting the warriors but at the very least he had only one and not three to deal with.

The encounter with the yautja youth back in the caves taught him enough about the yautja mind to know they see in heat. Armed with this knowledge he employed an alteration of an ancient technique the high templar of his caste used. He wasn't sure if it would work at first, but his "heat clone" did the trick as he watched two of the warriors disappear into the barren hills. His only problem now was finding a way to infiltrate the ship.

"Hmm...it's guarded by only one. I can't afford a fight, however. If I wait he may open it himself, but if I wait too long the others my come back," he pondered too himself, "My powers are nearly exhausted...but I may be able to pull off one more ruse."

A few minutes passed by and Splint grew weary of his guard duty. He paced around and mumbled to himself trying to devise a way to turn the tables on his comrades on a later date. He couldn't tolerate being out of the hunt for whatever reason, it just drove him nuts to sit here and do nothing. At the moment he was wishing that someone or something would try to attack or take the ship.

_Clang!_

Caught by surprise of the loud noise, Splint turned immediately began to scour the area of the disturbance. It sounded at first as if something metallic struck against the ship. However after a few minutes of searching he found nothing. Little did he know however of the presence that stayed far enough away from him to constantly be hidden behind the curvature of the ship.

_Clang!_

"Where is that coming from?" Splint thought to himself as he once again raced around the ship to discover the source of the disturbance. By the time he got there though he was disappointed not to find anything.

_Clang!_

There it was again! Splint was starting to become angry and raced once more to the other side of the ship roaring all the way there. When reached the other side he didn't bother to stop, but kept the pace up running circles around the ship hoping to flush out his prey. After about five circles around the ship he finally came to a stop to try to think for a moment. That is however until...

_Clang!_

"RAGH!" Splint roared at the top of his lungs. Having enough of this game he jumped and climbed up to the top of the ship for a more panoramic view of what was going on. He looked over to the front of the ship and then to the back. He ran towards the left and right side of the ship, but whatever it was that was toying with him remained well out of view no matter what angle he viewed from. Splint began to worry a bit, but then he thought of something.

"Oh I get it. Ha ha, that was very amusing of you. Patch! Dead-Noise! I know it's you! Are you happy now that you have made a fool of me?" He yelled out thinking that his comrades had played a sort of prank on him. He waited for an answer, but nothing came but silence. Curious he strode around to look over all the sides of the ship again.

_CLANG!_

Splint whipped around as fast as he could. The last disturbance came from directly behind him. Whatever it was that was toying with him was now on the roof of the ship and Splint could see it. It looked somewhat like a yautja, but clearly wasn't. He didn't care at the time what it was though, it was going to be dead meat. The creature, however, was moving far too fast for Splint to react in time and before he could get out of the way a fierce cyberneticly enhanced kick was planted into his solar plexus. He fell not so gracefully upon his back, and had the misfortune of falling upon a jutting stone that found a snug place between his should blade and spine. The pain was not the greatest he faced and as he opened his eyes he saw the alien that attacked him was currently at the peak of a jump and was about to come down upon him something fast.

"For AIUR!" the creature boomed with all it's power. Splint could have moved out of the way, but his attention was held a few seconds too long by the alien's battle cry. He paid the consequences for his hesitance. Over two hundred pounds of alien fury was channeled through the legs of the warrior as it smashed it's feet upon the yautja's skull after falling from about 12 ft from the air. The force trauma to the head was immense and could have killed a human or knock out a lesser yautja. The crafty trickster got up and observed his handiwork.

"I think...it worked," he said to himself. As he observed the thing beneath his feat he was somewhat surprised to find that it was still conscious, but just barely. The yautja groaned and started to raise itself off of the ground. He flipped himself around and with his hands lifted his body up. The alien warrior thought quickly. He already went through all that trouble to incapacitate this being without killing him as he needed it alive and unconscious. Clasping his hands together he channeled what little of his psionic reserves into his hands and slammed his coupled fists into the base of the back of the stubborn yautja's head. Splint was finally out cold.

"This species resilience is impressive. Unfortunate that this one was not so clever," he said to himself as he knelt down beside it. He was exhausted and needed a few minutes to rest. The yautja should be out for a while, but the alien knew he needed to make haste. As soon as he could he would probe the yautja's mind and figure a way to open and operate the ship.

The alien looked skyward and sighed. "I hope my friends that you are safe for the time being. By Tassadar, nothing will deter me from completing my mission," the warrior said withe great determination in his eyes.


End file.
